Em N Ru: The story of my new motorcycle

My facebook friend Rick had asked me back in March if I would go riding with him. I was sick and said "yes... sometime when I feel better". Eventually in April I felt better, and when he asked me for the third time, I charged up the battery on my bike and took it for a ride.

The old Kawasaki ran. It did not however run perfectly. My bike is a 1986 Kawasaki 454. Its a cool looking (imo) bike, with character, but mine has the added character of rust, zip tied turn signals, an exhaust leak, dented tank, and old cracking tires. It makes a weird grindy noise at 3000rpms. His name is PR for Purple Rain because it looks kinda like the one Prince rode. There is actually a Kawasaki 454 facebook group of people obsessed with this particular bike.

I had bought the bike for $1000 from someone on craigslist when Ru was 4. I haven't done much with it but ride it all these years, new tires and batteries and oil changes when it was necessary. I never fixed the dent, or the zip ties. I never bought fancy gear. Except for the four years that Ru was a baby, I've had a motorcycle since I was 18.

I had Ru drive me down to Bill's Motorcycles get new tires on PR, and a few days later when the rain stopped I went for a ride with Rick.

4th of July in Silverton on my Kawasaki 454.

That was so much fun we went on another, and then another. Rick is good company, and a great rider who knows every good ice cream stop. I bought some armored riding pants so now my gear consists of pants with knee pads, heavy over the ankle boots, a jacket with pads on shoulders, elbows, and back, a full face helmet, and articulated leather gloves with padded knuckles.

Purple Rain just couldn't keep up anymore. It tops out at 55mph unless you really push it, and if you push it it backfires when you decelerate. I joined the Salem Riders Group but couldn't go on any rides because my bike was too slow.

Rick rides a Triumph Bonneville, and was gracious enough to let me try his. (It is not a usual thing to borrow someone else's bike, it's risky.) I really liked the power, and the riding position. My Kawi has a really laid back cruiser position and it hurt my chronically sore tail bone. The Triumph lets you sit up straight. I looked at sport bikes (aka crotch rockets) but was a little intimidated by them.

Sitting on Rick's bike Ginger after riding it to Silverton to see how liked the Triumph. I had him take a picture to see how it looked on me. I thought it was a good fit.

So after searching craigslist for a few weeks, and thinking about how much fun it is to ride, and the whole social distancing thing, I decided to go look at a blue and white Triumph Bonneville in Eugene. Rick graciously agreed to come along and give it the once over.

I had brought some cash with me, but not the full asking price. I brought what I had. We each took it for a test ride. There was nothing wrong with the bike. It is a 2012 with 3000 miles on it. Tires were good, and it had been lowered so that the woman who owned it could ride it. She was even a little shorter than me so I was able to be flat footed on both sides of the bike which is very important, especially when you are sitting on it and trying to push it backwards.

After the test ride, I offered what cash I had brought. The couple conferred and declined. They said that they weren't in a hurry and would just keep waiting. I said okay and we drove off.

About three miles from their house I got a call. They had changed their minds and accepted my offer. So we went back and I gave them cash, and they signed over the title, and I rode my new bike home with only my summer gear on a chilly night, and partially on the freeway. Rick had offered to ride part of the way, he had his helmet, but I declined. I was bringing my new bike home. It was a fun ride for part of it, but a little nerve-wracking, and by the time I got home I was chilled through.

The next day I took him for a spin, (I think it's a masculine bike) and the next day I took him up to Sprague High School to practice swerves and turns in the parking lot. I paused for a minute near the woods and took some new bike selfies.